By Maribeth Keane and Brad Quinn — As a teenager, I got into repairing the old furniture in our attic. One day, I wandered into a local antiques shop and asked the guy there if he had anything that needed to be repaired. He gave me a few things to do. It just happened that he was a clock specialist, and he introduced me to other clock dealers. So from a pretty young age, I was repairing and refinishing clock cases. I very quickly transitioned from repairing to buying and selling. I’ve been doing appraisal work for probably...

Connecticut Clockmaking in Central New York

By Dr. Hugh Grant Rowell — Before the Revolutionary War, New York consisted chiefly of the Hudson River Valley. The Mohawk Valley and the rest of Central and Western New York remained in the possession of the Indians. But with peace there began a western surge. This was augmented by the construction of the Erie Canal and by 1820 Central New York was a thriving agricultural region. The Genesee Valley around Rochester was a great wheat granary. The opening of the Canal in 1825 linked Buffalo on Lake Erie with...

Jonathan Snellenburg Ticks off the History of Watches and Clocks

By Ben Marks — I grew up outside of Philadelphia. I didn’t have any particular interest in clocks or watches as a kid; that came after I started working at Christie’s East, where I ran the Jewelry and Silver Departments. When I arrived, I found watches basically sitting on my desk, so I began studying them, cataloging them, and doing watch sales. I don’t collect watches myself; I have more than enough clocks and watches that pass through my hands. It’s my own sort of virtual collection. I’m not an...

The Care and Repair of 19th-Century American Clocks

By Maribeth Keane and Jessica Lewis — I was working as a jewelry department manager for a department store, and I had a customer who brought a clock in for repair. I was able to fix her clock very quickly and easily, and I didn’t charge her anything. It turned out she had a huge collection, and she asked me to see the rest of them. She had these amazing 18th-century bracket clocks and 18th-century tall-case clocks. She had a gorgeous skeleton clock and even an Atmos clock. So that planted the seed, but it was many years later...

Miniature Clocks of Europe and America

By Dr. Hugh Grant Rowell — The true miniature antique clock of whatever land, is characterized by fineness of conception and skillful workmanship. Today they are among the rarities because far fewer of them were made than clocks of full-size with movements of standard proportions. From the beginning of clockmaking, however, working in the little was indulged by craftsmen of ability to demonstrate their skill and to satisfy customers who wanted timepieces that were doubly attractive because of their small...

The Versatile Simon Willard

By Dr. Hugh Grant Rowell — The name Simon Willard has always stood for superior materials, whether metal or wood; superior workmanship, whether of the movements he made himself or the cases that were made on order for him by excellent cabinetmakers; and superior, although comparatively simple design. [caption id="attachment_3643" align="alignright" width="149" caption=" Certain characteristics have long been considered sure indications of Willard workmanship, deadbeat escapements with the teeth "dished" in the...

Geographic Distribution of Early Clockmaking in America

By D. W. Hering — To be a horologist a man had to know both the science and the art of timekeeping; to be a clockmaker he had to be a skillful mechanic. From time to time a completely rounded man in science, art and handicraft appeared, such as Tompion, Graham, Harrison in England; LeRoy, Berthoud, Breguet in France; Ramsay, Reid, Smith in Scotland; Huygens in Holland; and Rittenhouse in America. In lesser degree there were many in America as well as elsewhere of measurable ability. In America we can...

The Timeless Appeal of the Westclock Big and Baby Bens

By Dave Margulius — How did I get interested in clocks? Something about them has always been ingrained in me. My mom’s father had a small collection of antique clocks and when I was a little boy he showed me how to wind them and regulate them. When I was eight we moved to a new house and my mom and I were looking in the attic and found an old octagon wall clock made by Waterbury, probably dated about 1880. That was the first antique clock I owned myself. I hung it on my wall and we tried to get it fixed...